Words Matter: What Public Health Can Learn from the Health Care Reform Debate
Session Archive
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Description
Public health saves lives and money, improves quality of life, and ensures that future generations grow up to be healthier than their parents. So why is the public so often confused about how public health impacts their lives? In this session we’ll talk about strategies that public health professionals can use to connect with the public and policy-makers on important issues ranging from prevention programs to funding. We’ll discuss lessons we’ve learned from the challenges of connecting with the public on health care reform, and how public health can advance its goals as the health care reform debate progresses.
Registration Information
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Presenters
Bob Crittenden, MD, MPH has practiced as a family physician for over thirty years in central and southeast Seattle with underserved populations, worked for the state legislature, been a Robert Wood Johnson health policy fellow with Senator George Mitchell, was special assistant to Governor Gardner for health, and is a professor in the departments of family medicine and health services at the University of Washington. He has been involved in many local and national efforts to improve the health care system including being associate executive director of the commission that put together the Basic Health Plan of Washington. He has been active in rural and urban underserved health systems improvements, and has worked with insurers, employers and providers in improving systems of care for chronic conditions. He is currently the chief of family medicine service at Harborview Medical Center and the executive director of Herndon Alliance, a non-profit organization building the base of public support for health care reform.
Francesca Holme, MPH is project director for Herndon Alliance where she engages a wide range of groups in the health care reform debate, including doctors, nurses, and business owners. In her previous role as NWCPHP’s training coordinator she facilitated the Hot Topics series and interfaced with public health practitioners across the Pacific Northwest. Her experiences as a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua and as a student at the University of Washington School of Public Health instilled a passion for improving health in underserved communities both internationally and locally.
Learner Objectives
By the end of this presentation, participants will be able to:
- Describe the communications strategies that have been most effective in connecting with the public to advance health care reform
- Identify ways to apply these strategies to connect with the public and legislators on issues of importance for public health
- Discuss ideas of ways to use the health care reform debate as a springboard for advancing public health goals
Target Audience
This session would be appropriate for the following audiences:
- Local and state public health practitioners
- Public health nurses
- Local and state emergency management staff
- Public health policy advocates
- Communications personnel
